The Global Management Challenge (GMC) Kenya has announced the Kenyan teams that have made it to the second stage of the Challenge. These teams will have the chance to compete for a place to represent Kenya at the GMC international finals.
The GMC is a global business management competition, which gives teams the task of creating high performing companies to generate maximum return for their investments using an online simulator. Each team receives their company history and management reports detailing company performance for the last five quarters, which they use to outline a corporate strategy. The challenge consists of four stages in which the teams implement this strategy, including two selection rounds, one national final, and an international final.
Each stage of the competition sees the teams go through five developing decision periods, to identify teams with the best investment performance. The leading teams from across eight groups come from local universities and workplaces.
GMC Kenya is managed by Greener Pastures Ltd, a local human capacity building firm.
“The Global Management Challenge was launched in Kenya to help bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world needs at the work place. Through the competition, students and professionals get the chance to develop a variety of analytic and strategic skills that help to improve their performance in many different environments. They also develop a holistic understanding of how businesses operate,” says Ravi Shah, Director at Greener Pastures.
Competitors also develop leadership skills, broaden their views on corporate strategy, interact with different functions of a company, and make informed decisions after evaluating their operating environment which includes prevailing market conditions.
Through the process, they understand the impact their decisions have on the success or failure of a company as it works to meet its primary objectives. The online simulator measures each team’s investment ‘return’ for shareholders, taking into account the value of their company stock, shares sold or purchased, as well as any dividends received.
“One interesting trend we have noted is the narrowed gender gap that we hope can be replicated across all sectors and industries in the country – about 60% of our competitors are female, with the leading teams predominantly led by women,” says Asim Shah, Director at Greener Pastures.
The GMC is the world›s largest management & strategy competition and has been running since 1980. It is currently present in 35 countries worldwide and has more than 500,000 university students and company managers participating globally. The Kenyan chapter of the competition has brought together teams from Kenyan universities and workplaces including University of Nairobi, Strathmore, Jomo Kenyatta University of Art & Technoloty, Kenyatta, Egerton, Daystar, Oshwal College, Pan Africa Christian University and Kabarak.
The national finals will be held on March 5th 2016, while the international finals will be held in Macao during the first quarter of 2016.
